Threats and Challenges

As a result of the alarming conservation status – no more than 500 seals remain in the Mediterranean and along the Eastern Atlantic coastline - IUCN has classified the species as Critically Endangered. Monk Seal populations play an important role in coastal and marine ecosystems. But natural phenomena and the development of human activities have significantly reduced them. The Eastern Atlantic Populations of the Mediterranean Monk Seal greatly suffer from entanglement and mortality in fishing gears, over fishing, hunting and human persecution, and pollution, as well as from natural factors such as toxic phytoplankton. In addition, destruction of breeding sites and collapsing breeding cave further accelerate habitat loss.